Modest, yet health conscious, mothers who choose to nurse their infants find it problematical and perhaps socially unacceptable to feed their babies in public. It is often difficult to use a small blanket for this purpose because it may often fall down, may become very warm, and may not be convenient for positioning the baby correctly.
In one approach to the problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,960 (Apr. 23, 1991) to Hemming discloses a nursing garment with a close-knit upper portion which lies over the shoulder of the nursing mother, and which extends down into an expanded, open-knit lower portion which covers the breast and at least part of the baby while nursing. It is disclosed that thus, the upper portion may be used for burping the baby, and the lower portion is sufficiently opaque to provide privacy to the mother, yet adequately Open to allow sufficient ventilation for the baby. In one embodiment, the garment is provided with two sides to cover both breasts, and in another, a single side is covered, in which the upper edge of the upper, close-knit portion is weighted, for example, with 2 ounces of lead pellets, so as to maintain the garment in place over the mother's shoulder.
However, that approach has several drawbacks. Among these are that the garment may not stay in place, to include in the front part while nursing, and a baby may burp up on the mother, missing the small upper portion of the garment.
In another approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,268 (Feb. 5, 1991) to Stolhand discloses a privacy shield for nursing mothers which includes a hook-like member with a first curved portion that fits over the mother's shoulder and a second elongated portion that extends downward over the mother's upper chest area. The shield has a drape for concealing the mother's upper front chest area and a frame for supporting the drape in front of her upper front chest area so that the nursing baby's head may be disposed between the drape and the mother's breast.
However, that approach also has several drawbacks. Among these are that the shield has hard parts to wear over the shoulder and so forth, is inconvenient to carry, and insufficient provision is also made for burping the baby.
It would be desirable to ameliorate, overcome or avoid such continued problems in the art or such art. It would be additionally desirable to provide an article which does so, and which may be employed in additional fields of endeavor.